Through the Rabbit Hole
by Illeana Starbright
Summary: After the battle of Beacon, the world has been left reeling. Hunters and huntresses are either dead or injured and the only man who might have the knowledge to stop Salem's master plan is missing or dead. Enter four children on a quest through time, determined to set everything right or to die trying.
1. Chapter 1

Beacon was filled with Grimm of all shapes and sizes. They roamed the abandoned streets, no longer bothering to rip apart the dwellings that humans and faunus alike had once inhabited. The prey they had once sought was no longer there. They had all been exterminated or evacuated on a dark night full of betrayal and hurt. The massive form of a Goliath froze, turning its head towards the outer courtyard of the school, ears out stiff as it listened. The other Grimm around it paused, turning their heads in the same direction. When the Goliath turned its whole body towards whatever had caught its attention and started to move, a herd of smaller Grimm followed it.

Four teenagers were waiting patiently for someone to take note of their presence, spread across the crumbling stone of the front courtyard of the once magnificent school. The two girls of the group were sitting cross legged on a patch of mostly even stone. The elder of the two, with dark hair pulled into a ponytail over a slim shoulder and bunny ears a darker shade than her mother's sticking out of that hair on the top of her head, had her eyes closed. Her breathing was slow and even, her posture completely relaxed despite the very real danger surrounding her, and she seemed to resonate with peace. The younger of the two was watching vigilantly for trouble at her friend's side, blonde curls bouncing and swishing over her shoulders with each turn of her head. Her ruby eyes were narrowed and her pink lips were pulled into a sour frown that looked almost natural on her tanned face.

Laying a few feet behind them on top of a toppled pillar was a dark haired young man. What appeared to be a sawed off shotgun was lying across his stomach, various colored bullets stored in color coded pouches on his belt. He was staring up at the distant forms of a few circling Nevermores that hadn't quite worked up the nerve to swoop down after he'd taken a shot that had set a Nevermore's wing on fire. Sitting with his back against the same fallen pillar was a brunette haired young man with serious silver eyes. Resting in his lap was what appeared to be a simple crossbow at first glance. Upon closer inspection though, someone would notice that the weapon was actually the love child of a machine pistol and a crossbow, a fitting weapon for a hunter.

The two females were armed, just like their male counterparts. The dark haired young woman had a bull whip coiled at her hip with a space at the handle where dust cartridges could be inserted for an elemental touch. Arm guards similar to an archer's protected her from a flick of the whip going awry and cutting into her own skin. The blonde next to her had a short sword resting in its sheath at her left. The blade was a little over two feet long, hidden away by the red sheath with a black diamond design, and the pommel was wrapped in red and black alternating stripes. Her hands were poised on her lap, ready to reach for the weapon at the first hint of trouble.

The dark haired girl's eyes opened as the vibration of heavy footsteps traveled through the ground. "The Grimm are coming," she said, voice soft and level as the blonde beside her reached for her short sword with her right hand, removing it from its sheath with a metallic hiss.

" _Finally_ ," the dark haired young man said, rolling off the pillar and almost kicking the brunette young man in the head. "Something fun to do."

"I can't believe you sometimes," the brunette replied in fond exasperation. "We've lived in a war zone our entire life, a situation which would put most people off fighting permanently, and yet you're always eager to go toe to toe with Grimm."

"I'm with Malachi," the blonde girl chimed in, rising to her feet. "We stepped through the rabbit hole an hour ago and this is the first sign of action we've seen."

"Sometimes I wonder how we're related," the brunette boy sighed, pulling a crossbow bolt out of of bag slung over one shoulder and loading it into his weapon.

"Now is not the time for a repeat of that conversation," the dark haired girl interjected, uncoiling her whip from her side. "When we do not have a fight on our hands, you can feel free to continue it."

"Right," the blonde girl said, a dark smirk curling her lips upwards. "Luc, find some high ground. I can see at least one Goliath from here, which means we're going to need you to provide cover fire at some point. Malachi, cover the left flank. Sable, are you good with taking point?"

"I've got it covered," the dark haired girl replied grimly, slipping a cartridge of dust into the handle of her whip.

"Good. Then I'll take the right," the blonde proclaimed.

The Beowolves were the first to reach the makeshift battle lines. Sable's whip cracked, bowling over the front part of her wave before it even reached her. At the same time, Malachi and Luc's blonde cousin, Ember, plunged forward to cut through their own enemies. Luc, watching from the top of a slightly tilting column, spared a glance to make sure his friends on the ground were holding their own against the first onslaught before turning his attention towards the Nevermores in the sky. They were growing bolder, circling lower and lower as they assumed that their prey was distracted by the chaos on the ground. They were wrong.

The brunette sighted through the crossbow and then blew out the air in his lungs. In the empty space between one breath and the next he steadied his arm, aimed, and fired. The crossbow bolt slammed into a Nevermore's eye, spending the flying Grimm hurtling towards the ground with a pained screech. Even as Luc reloaded he was turning his attention towards the ground where Sable was whirling on her toes to dodge a spinning Boarbatusk, lashing her suddenly flaming whip out to wrap it around a bone white tusk. The creature squealed as the flames spread and the dark haired young woman pulled it back towards her, intending on finishing it off. On Sable's left, Malachi was facing down an Ursa, a Beowolf trying to circle around the large Grimm for a chance at taking the hunter down. Luc's eyes narrowed and he took aim once more, his bolt barely missing the Beowolf.

The predatory Grimm turned his attention towards Luc, darting around the Ursa and running squarely into the pillar the brunette was standing on. The pillar shook a little but didn't fall over. Yet. Lips pulled into a grim line, Luc quickly reloaded, taking the time to aim as the Beowolf backed up for another run at his pillar. One more good hit would knock him off it, leaving him in a much more vulnerable position and leaving his teammates in danger from the Nevermores circling like buzzards above a corpse. Blowing out his breath and wrapping his finger carefully around the correct trigger, he took aim at the Beowolf who was backing up one more step.

As soon as he pulled the trigger, he knew that he'd missed it. The Beowolf lunged forward at the same instant, charging towards the pillar the brunette was standing on, and the bolt sunk into a patch of dirt where it'd been standing. The Grimm slammed hard into the pillar and Luc flipped backwards with the motion in the hopes that he could control his descent. For a moment, as he came out of his flip, he felt weightless. Then he plummeted towards the ground, stomach rising up to reside in his throat. As he fell, he forced his hand to reach for one of the two clips strapped to his belt, snapping it into place. He landed hard on the ground, the impact making his knees ache, and pulled the arms of the crossbow back to snap out of sight.

The Beowolf, shaking its head in an attempt to shake off the disorientation, was slowly turning to face him. Luc didn't waste time aiming with his weapon as a gun. Instead he removed the safety and opened fire, sending the Beowolf crumpling to the ground. "Aerial support is gone guys," he called to his friends, hoping his voice was loud enough to be heard over the roars of different species of Grimm.

"Are you okay?" Sable called, flipping backwards to avoid the strike of a King Taijitu's black head.

"I'm unhurt," Luc reassured her, putting his back to the pillar he'd been standing on in an effort to keep other Grimm from sneaking up on him. "But we're going to need to new plan."

"He's right," Ember agreed. "We need to make a tactical retreat, or at least find a space that forces them to come at us from one direction."

"We could try one of the buildings, but that would mean going straight through the horde," Sable said, brow furrowed in concentration as she was driven steadily backwards by the two-headed, serpentine Grimm.

"What's wrong, Sable? Too scared to push through the crowd," Malachi taunted, actually flipping over an Ursa's head, narrowly avoiding a swipe of its claws as he emptied a clip into the back of its skull, sending it crumbling to the ground.

"Doing something like that is incredibly impractical," Sable snapped between gritted teeth. "It would likely result in at least one of us dead, if not all of us, and therefore unable to set anything right."

"Sable's right," Luc interjected before the bickering could escalate, reaching out to pull Ember back towards him. "And you know we're no good to anyone back at home dead."

"Both of you are being cowards," Malachi snapped, attention focused on several Beowolves crowding up in front of him for a somewhat coordinated attack.

"No," Sable practically growled. "We're being _reasonable_ , which is more than I can ever say of you."

"Uh, guys," Ember said, voice lost in the chaos Malachi was causing while Luc and Sable scrambled to cover his back and their own fronts.

"The world isn't reasonable, so why should any of us bother to be?" the dark haired young man challenged before activating his semblance. The approaching Beowolves didn't balk as he vanished completely from view, leaving his friends scrambling to cover him. Sable's whip cracked, this time sending shards of razor sharp ice towards the approaching Grimm instead of a wave of fire, while Luc emptied his clip into the crowd and Ember removed the knife from where it was tucked into her short sword, launching herself into the crowd as she sliced through tough hides.

Malachi managed to take down one of the Beowolves while completely invisible, but ran out of energy for the rest, leaving him vulnerable and surrounded by enemies. "See what I mean?" Sable snapped, even as she activated her own semblance. "Even a little foresight would be appreciated at this point." The sound wave sent out by the crack of her whip had Malachi wincing and covering his ears, likely deafened by the noise. The Grimm, who had more sensitive hearing than the teenage boy, cringed and yowled in pain, giving Ember a chance to wreak havoc on the unlucky creatures. While they focused on her, Luc sprinted forward to grab Malachi's arm and practically dragged the taller, broader boy out of danger.

"We're clear," he called as soon as he and his complaining cargo had taken up positions by Sable, and Ember launched herself backwards in the air to land in a crouch in front of the dark haired girl, whip lashing out at the couple of Beowolves brave enough to race after her.

"I think we can actually get to one of the buildings for shelter," the blonde said, rolling to the right and coming up between Sable and Malachi in an attempt to stall any further arguing. "But we have to be able to get on top of one of the buildings. From there, if we move fast enough, we'll only have to deal with interference from Nevermores."

"We'll also be moving further into territory that the Grimm have already claimed," Sable pointed out, not sounding pleased by the idea.

"I know," Ember acknowledged. "But if we stay out here, we'll be killed. At least on the rooftops we might have a chance." She lunged forward to plunge the blade of her short sword through the eye of the white head of the King Taijitu that Sable had been fighting with earlier.

"I don't like it," Sable said, lips pulled into a frown. "But its the best plan we have. What do you think, Luc?"

Although the four weren't officially a team, because that required a school to create your team and not whatever was left of your family teaching you just enough to survive, they had worked together enough times to know that Luc, much like his father, was a strategist more than he was a fighter. Generally, when they worked together, Ember threw out possible plans and Luc either discarded them or made them work. They had learned, from a couple missions gone wrong and lectures from the few parents the group had left, that ignoring Luc's thoughts on a plan could end in disaster.

"I think it will work," he said after scanning the nearby buildings. "If we make a run for the building back to our right. We're only going to get one shot at this though."

"Alright," Sable said with a sigh as Malachi and Ember grinned eagerly at each other. "Let's do this."

"On three," Luc agreed. "One...Two... _Three!_ " The four whirled and sprinted towards the building that Luc had indicated in perfect synchronization. They sprinted, Beowolves snapping at their heels and the snarl of an Ursa ruffling their hair. They picked off the monsters that got closest but left the others to chase after them. The four of them could worry about the horde once they were off the ground.

Luc was the first one to reach the building and start climbing. He swarmed up the side like a spider, used to climbing the nearest tall object in order to provide cover from above. Malachi wasn't far behind him, putting long legs to good use, and Sable was right on his heels, barely avoiding the Grimm snapping at her heels. A Beowolf's sharp teeth ripped the edge of the dark haired teen's extra long shirt, coming away with dark brown cloth in its fangs. Sable hissed between her teeth and climbed faster, fear propelling her upwards at an incredible speed. At the back of the group, Ember hadn't fared as well. The blonde had trailed behind, trying to cover their backs, and had gotten caught in a snarl of Beowolves. The creatures circled and snapped while Ember held them at bay, blades whirling in the dim moonlight.

Luc pushed himself faster, knowing he had to get to the roof so he could provide backup for his cousin. Ember was good, but she wasn't good enough to hold off the Beowolves forever. Sooner or later one would get through her defense, and fresh blood around this many predators wouldn't end well. He clambered over the lip of the roof and turned in time to see a scythe slice through a Beowolf's spine. For a brief instant, he irrationally thought that his mother had come to bail them out. Then he got a good look at who had come to his cousin's rescue.

Ember obviously had thought the same thing that Luc had, because she spun with a somewhat sheepish smile that he could see from the rooftop, only to freeze temporarily when she saw who her savior actually was. He watched his cousin square her shoulders, a sure sign that her hands were clenching tightly around the pommels of her blades. Her sudden tension was a sure sign that she was just as shocked as he had been when she'd found herself face to face with a man who'd been dead since she was four and Luc had been five.

"Luc, man, is that your uncle?" Malachi asked, dusting off his hands on his pants and then elbowing Luc in the ribs. The elbow was just riding the line between annoyance and pain, but it nudged him far enough out of his shock to offer his hand to Sable.

"Great-Uncle, actually," he corrected absently, releasing Sable's hand once she was upright and mechanically converting his weapon back into a crossbow.

"Luc, not that I want to take your attention away from the battle and helping our friend, but are you okay?" Sable asked, reaching out a hand to still his own.

"Yeah, yeah," he agreed, trying to shake the shock free of his head with a short, sharp motion. "I just, uh, wasn't expecting to actually come face to face with someone I knew when I was a kid." He hesitated a moment and then added, "It's a little weird."

"He's right," Malachi agreed, tone uncharacteristically solemn considering the fact that he wasn't having a private conversation with Ember. "This is weird."

"In all likelihood, yes," Sable agreed. "But now isn't the time to process that. Ember, and probably Luc's and Ember's Great-Uncle, is going to need our help."

"Alright," Luc agreed, knocking a bolt in his crossbow. "Take care of the Grimm first. Freak out later."

"Atta boy," Malachi said with just a little bit of mocking. "C'mon Sable. Let's kick some monster butt."


	2. Chapter 2

Qrow Branwen needed a new job. Or at least a job that didn't involve putting his neck on the line to save stupid teenagers who weren't his nieces from hordes of angry Grimm. The blonde girl whirled on her heel, aiming a kick at a Beowolf's lower jaw before plunging a short blade through the top of its skull with a wet, crunching noise. The sound of feet landing heavily behind him only increased Qrow's irritation. As he turned to aim his scowl at the teenagers he just knew were behind him, a crossbow bolt whistled by his nose to sink into the skull of yet another Beowolf. "Nice shot," the dark haired faunus girl called up towards the one teen that had been smart enough to actually stay on the roof.

"Why don't you worry less about your friend's aim and worry more about getting _back on the roof_?" Qrow grated out.

"Fine, we'll just leave you to be slaughtered by hordes of angry Grimm," the dark haired young man beside her drawled, turning back towards the building. "Come on Sable, Ember."

"We can't just leave him," the dark haired girl protested, grabbing the boy's arm to pull him to a stop.

"Actually I thought the point was to get on the roof and away from the things trying to kills us," the blonde pointed out dryly before diving aside with a yelp as a Boarbatusk bowled through the pack of Beowolves in an attempt to take someone out. It slammed into the wall of the building behind them, leaving a large hole that showed the decimated interior of what had likely been a team's room before everything had fallen apart. The heavy footsteps of a Goliath rattled the rubble on the ground as the Boarbatusk stumbled dazedly to its feet, shaking its head. This situation was going to turn ugly quickly, and Qrow was pretty sure that the teens weren't going to be able to handle it.

"Get on the roof, _now_ ," he growled at them and the dark haired girl nodded, the boy shrugging off her hand and grabbing a handhold. The dark haired girl followed right on his heels but the blonde's focus was on the approaching black head of a King Taijitu, the massive Grimm dragging its dead white head behind it. Behind the wounded King Taijitu was a Goliath, and behind that was a horde of Beowolves much larger than any of the Beowolves in previous waves, large enough to overwhelm even the best fighters in these numbers.

Qrow had just a moment to recognize the look in the blonde's blazing red eyes before she'd launched herself into the air, landing squarely on the King Taijitu's black head. The serpentine Grimm snapped its head upwards launching her high into the air with incredible force, considering that it was half dead, making her a perfect target for the circling Nevermores. Cursing under his breath, Qrow quickly transformed his sword into its scythe form, allowing the King Taijitu's own momentum as it dropped its head to dispatch it. Even as the serpentine Grimm was crumbling into dust, the veteran hunter turned his attention upwards, half expecting to see the blonde trapped in the claws of a Nevermore. Instead he glanced up in time to see her hurtling back down to earth, a Nevermore with blood dripping from one leg diving after her.

At the rate she was falling, the blonde would be lucky to come out with a broken leg. If she wasn't careful about how she landed, the impact could kill her. Feeling his irritation grow to explosive proportions, Qrow backed up to take a running start, actually launching himself off the top of a Beowolf's head in a move that would have made a teenage Taiyang Xiao Long extremely pleased, colliding into the blonde in midair. The impact sent the two of them slamming into the side of the building. Qrow grabbed a window ledge while the blonde skidded down a few feet before managing to find a handhold in cracked stone. She dangled from the wall by one hand, scrabbling around with her other to try and find another handhold, and Qrow could hear her gasping for breath. The Nevermore that had been diving after the blonde flared its wings in an attempt not to hit the wall and a well placed crossbow bolt hit it in the eye, sending it spiraling downwards. Satisfied that the flying Grimm wasn't going to be a threat for the time being, Qrow started climbing, hoping that the blonde would follow instead of getting some crazy idea in her head, like dropping down to finish tussling with the Beowolves.

The teens were waiting on the rooftop, the brunette that had been smart enough not to descend in the first place keeping an eye on the circling Nevermores. "You're right," the dark haired young man said, turning to face the brunette. "This is weird."

" _Malachi_ ," the faunus girl hissed at him as the blonde pulled herself over the lip of the roof, flopping limply on the rough stone.

" _Sable,"_ the dark haired boy mocked back, causing the blonde and the brunette to let out exasperated sighs.

Qrow considered biting back the sour comment resting on the tip of his tongue for a moment and then decided not to bother. "What's weird? That your half baked plan to wander into Beacon after news spread that it was infested, slaughter a few hapless Grimm, and march out triumphant heroes ended terribly?" He pulled out his flask and unscrewed up, downing a gulp and relishing the burn of the alcohol.

The faunus girl, Sable, flushed cherry red and glanced down at the roof while the dark haired boy, Malachi, muttered, " _harsh_ " in an almost appreciative tone.

"Next time you get that kind of a stupid idea in your heads, do it when I don't have to come to the rescue," he finished sourly.

"First of all, we weren't trying to be heroes," the blonde girl said, climbing slowly to her feet and scowling at him. Something about the fierceness in her eyes was painfully familiar, the predatory gleam in those red depths reminiscent of his sister, or Yang, when she began to get irritated. "And secondly, we were doing just fine on our own."

And that was the stupidest sentence Qrow had heard come out of someone's mouth in the last twenty-four hours. "You were about to be Grimm food, Blondie," he replied, tone sharp.

"We've been here for over an hour," the blonde snapped back. "And this is the first problem we've had. A problem we're easily capable of dealing with on our own."

"Let's just calm down," the brunette boy interjected before Qrow could remind the blonde girl exactly how well her little confrontation with the Grimm below had been going before he'd showed up to act out the part of the white knight who swooped in and saved the fair maiden. The blonde looked like she wanted to protested but the brunette stared her down. She turned away, folding her arms over her chest, and Malachi snorted, getting a rude gesture aimed at him in response.

Already tired of the situation, Qrow tucked his flask away and turned his attention from trying to hammer into thick skulls exactly how dangerous Beacon was now. He'd let their parents take care of that particularly joyful task. "Where are you from?" he grated out, keeping an eye on the restless Grimm circling around the building they were all standing on. When he glanced over at the teens, he got four blank stares in response. "I need to get you four back to your parents so I don't have to deal with this mess," he grated out.

"That's going to be a bit of a problem," Sable said, glancing awkwardly at the others.

"And why, exactly, is that? And if it's that your parents don't know where you wandered off too, that's not my problem." Qrow knew that he wasn't exactly been kind, but even being sociable was a struggle on his best days and after his impromptu rescue mission, his temper had worn thin.

"Our parents know where we are," the blonde said, turning back to face him. "That's not the problem."

"Then what is?" Qrow demanded, barely resisting the urge to take another drink from his flask. The last thing he needed, with Grimm circling and waiting for a chance to strike, was to be drunk.

"Getting home," the four of them replied in unison.

"Why?"

"It's not like its just a stroll in the park for us to go home," the blonde said, hands dropping down to rest on her hips. "We're talking about traveling forward in time _twenty years_."

"You're insane," Qrow decided, wondering what deity had been so pissed off at him that it had dropped this particular mess in his lap.

"Maybe," Sable admitted, tone patient. "About some things, but not this." Qrow arched an eyebrow at her and the faunus girl actually smiled. "You have to know already that the rules of time are flexible. You saw proof of that firsthand when you found Ruby on top of the tower, the Dragon and Cinder Fall frozen around her as if someone had paused them, just as you can pause an image on a screen or your scroll."

"Freezing time is a lot different than actually traveling backwards from the future," Qrow protested.

"Not exactly," was Sable's easy reply. "Time travel is possible, for a select few, but traveling backwards in time requires a fixed point, untouched by time passing around it. This kind of fixed point does not exist in nature, or come to be from our ability to build monuments. Both are subject to time and will eventually change or crumble away. Instead, a fixed point is created by freezing a point in time, like Ruby Rose did on top of the tower. Nothing that has been frozen by her power will age or crumble. Instead it will continue to exist just as it was in the moment it was frozen, no matter how many years pass."

For a moment Qrow found himself wishing that Summer Rose was still alive. She'd always been fascinated by the mechanics of time, spending her free time doing research on the newest theories about time travel. Summer would have understood what Sable was saying immediately instead of slowly putting together the pieces of the puzzle like he was doing. "You're saying that you four somehow used the top of the tower to travel backwards twenty years," he summarized at last.

"Exactly," came the pleased reply.

"Why?"

"It's...complicated," Sable said, hesitating a moment of the second word.

"And a story that's better told when we don't have hungry Grimm circling overhead," the brunette boy pointed out, eyes fixed on the Nevermores above that were slowly and cautiously descending towards them.

As much as Qrow wanted to know exactly what was going on here (so he could then get properly drunk and forget the insanity and pain that his life continually insisted on becoming), he knew that the teen was right. To continue talking here would be asking to be eaten, and that was low on the list of okay ways to die in Qrow's mind. "You four owe me an explanation later," he informed them, pulling his scroll out of his pocket. He hadn't originally planned to go into Beacon and engage the Grimm so he didn't have an exit strategy. That meant he was going to have to hope that Glynda Goodwitch wasn't in the kind of mood that would be happy to have a Grimm take a bite out of him.

"What trouble have you gotten into this time?" the blonde huntress asked after the first ring, reminding Qrow once again why he didn't spend his free time with her.

"I found someone interesting in Beacon," Qrow told her. "Four someones, actually, but I need a ride out of here before the Grimm get tired of circling and decide to actually try to eat us."

There was a long pause and then Glynda said, "Sometimes I'm not sure why I even consent to work with you."

"Because of my sparkling personality," was Qrow's reply.

Glynda released a very put upon sigh. "A transport ship will be at the tower in twenty minutes to collect you and whatever you've found in the ruins of Beacon. The ship will wait for you for exactly five minutes. Should you not have shown up in that amount of time, it will leave you."

"Thanks, Glynda. You're a doll," Qrow drawled.

"I am nothing of the sort," Glynda replied primly before hanging up on him. Qrow shook his head with a brief, wry grin before turning his attention towards the teenagers.

"Alright kiddies," he said with mock cheer, ignoring the disgruntled and mildly irritated looks aimed at him. "Time for the fun part of this little adventure. We get to make a run for the top of the tower."

"We're not going to be able to stay off the ground the entire way," Sable said, voice worried.

"Oh you four can handle it," Qrow drawled, casually making his way towards the edge of the roof facing the tower. "After all, you'd been here an hour with no problems before I showed up." Then he jumped. He barely cleared the empty space between this dormitory and the next one, breaking into a sprint so he didn't stumble and fall flat on his face. That would ruin the effect.

Qrow angled his trajectory so that he could jump onto one of the circular walls of arches and columns, knowing he could use the wall to circle around and jump onto the roof of the main building, which would give him the height and momentum to get on top of what was left of the tower. _Hopefully._ He wasn't overly surprised to hear the skidding noises of bad landings and muffled curses behind him as he jumped from the rooftop to the wall. He grinned for a moment, amused by their irritation, but didn't look back. Either the teenagers would be able to take care of themselves or they'd be eaten. There was no room in the timeline Glynda had given them for coddling.

The run had been going smoothly, which probably should have been Qrow's first warning that something was going to go horribly wrong. It started with a Goliath, one of the oldest and largest ones he'd ever seen, lifted its trunk and wrapped it around one of the columns, pulling. The creature strained for a moment, the column creaking and groaning before it splintered and crumbled only a foot in front of Qrow. He skidded to a stop and had a brief moment to be relieved before someone slammed into his back, sending them both crashing to the ground in front of the Goliath. _"Luc!"_ a female voice screamed, Qrow's muddled and stunned brain unable to figure out who was doing the yelling.

" _Move!"_ Qrow managed to snap out as the Goliath loomed overhead, shoving whoever had landed on him off and rolling aside. The Goliath's foot slammed down in the empty space he and the kid had occupied a moment before. When the foot slowly moved away, the Goliath letting out a low rumble of displeasure, Qrow found his eyes meeting the shocked ones of the brunette boy. Qrow guessed that the teen probably hadn't been almost stepped on before. Judging by the ranged weapon the kid had been using before, he wasn't exactly equipped to deal with an angry Goliath either. "Get back onto the wall," Qrow grated out softly as the Goliath coiled its trunk up, obviously preparing for a strike. The teen nodded, backing up a step to make a run for the nearest column. That was when the Goliath's trunk came down, not as a solid strike like either of them had been expecting, but in a wide, sweeping motion that knocked the kid over and had Qrow stumbling backwards.

"Watch out!" Sable's voice yelled and the brunette rolled to the right, barely missing getting his bones shattered by the Goliath's next strike with its heavy trunk.

Malachi said something and the blonde shook her head in a sharp motion as Sable loosened her whip, backing up a few steps and turning towards the Grimm trapped behind the Goliath's massive bulk. "Ember, _please!_ " the brunette boy yelled and the blonde gnawed on her lower lip for a moment before nodding. Sable's whip let out a massive crack as the blonde launched herself off the wall.

The blonde flipped off the Goliath's back, the giant Grimm raising its trunk into the air and trumpeting angrily. She landed next to Qrow, turning to face him with determined red eyes. "I need you to throw me."

"What?"

"Don't question it," she snarled, her tone reminiscent of a very pissed off Raven, and Qrow nodded almost automatically.

"Okay," he said, cupping his hands. She took three steps back and then sprinted forward, feet dropping into the cradle of Qrow's hands. He tossed her up in the air and backwards, hoping he'd given her enough air time to accomplish whatever she had in mind. She was light enough that he could get her up above the Goliath, but he wasn't Taiyang, who'd once thrown Summer to the top of a decent sized tree during a fight so she could get a better look at the situation. The blonde flipped into midair, starting to come down behind the Goliath. At the same time her eyes turned a shade of lilac identical to Yang's and a dark purple glow began to surround her. It swirled and twisted around her feet, her descent actually stopping as the vortex around her pulling Grimm towards her from all directions.

"Come on," the brunette boy hissed, suddenly at Qrow's side.

"What about your friend?" he questioned, the brunette already taking a few steps back to make a run at the nearby column.

"Ember has it covered," the teen replied, tone confident. Then he added in an undertone, "I hope." Qrow shook his head as a cacophony of angry Grimm noises began to rise up behind him, and followed the kid up the column.

Sable and Malachi had already made the jump to the other side but were standing, frozen, staring towards the blonde. "Get moving," Qrow barked at them, ignoring the startled looks aimed at him and nudging them forward. He was already turning around to check on the last member of the ragtag group as the brunette urged the other two forward. He turned around in time to see the blonde, Ember presumably, hurtling towards the ground. She twisted, managing to change her trajectory somewhat, vanishing for a moment before rolling out from underneath the massive feet of the Goliath. She jumped over a strike from its trunk and stumbled on the landing a bit, wobbling on her feet.

Qrow had pulled his weapon free and was in the middle of readying it as a gun before he'd consciously considered reaching for it.. He knew exactly why Ember was so sluggish and unbalanced in her movements; semblance fatigue. He'd had the pleasure of being on a team with two fighters who'd had incredibly strong semblances but who'd also faced the dangerous downside of how draining a powerful semblance could be when used to its full potential. The blonde teen would be dead in a minute if he couldn't manage to distract the Goliath. Qrow emptied an entire clip into the thick skull of the Goliath, hoping that would be at least enough of an irritation to get the Grimm's attention. The massive head lifted, turning towards the older hunter, and the girl broke into a run, scrambling up the side of the pillar. Qrow emptied a few more bullets into the approach Goliath and then shoved the weapon away, grabbing Ember's arm just as her foot slipped, about to send her toppling back to the ground. He pulled her the rest of the way, incredibly glad that she wasn't ridiculously heavy for her size, and practically dragged her a few feet as the Goliath charged.

The wall shuddered as the ancient Grimm crashed into it, another column dropping away. In the distance Qrow could see the transport ship Glynda had mentioned heading towards the tower. "Move!" he snapped, shoving the blonde forward, and she stumbled for a couple steps before breaking out in a fatigued run, barely making the jump from the wall onto the roof of Beacon. Qrow followed, keeping an eye out for approaching Grimm and promising himself that he could get completely hammered for a night once this entire mess was over.


	3. Chapter 3

The house was quiet. Ruby was curled up in her bed, huddled in a little ball under her blankets much like she had for nights after Summer had died. His youngest daughter had taken the loss of Pyrrha Nikos hard, and was mourning for the other girl in the same way she'd mourned the loss of her mother. Yang, in contrast, had shut herself away. When he'd tried to open her door to check on her, he'd found it locked. Taiyang hadn't been able to muster up the will to try and talk to her through the door. While Ruby was mourning the loss of a friend and the way her team had been divided, Yang seemed torn between pain and hate over Blake Belladonna's perceived betrayal. The emotional turmoil had sapped the spark from his normally sunny child, leaving her staring listlessly out her window. Since the events that night at Beacon his two girls had shattered, and Taiyang wasn't certain he would be able to put them back together.

Summer would have known what to do. She would have smiled, risen up on her toes to kiss him on the cheek, and then marched off to cajole Ruby and Yang out of their misery. It was an ability that he had always admired, but without it in these troubling times he felt lost at sea. His only real relief was that Raven had stayed away. Qrow that told him that Raven had rescued Yang from likely death, only to have her brother pass on a message to her daughter that she wouldn't do that again. It was things like that which made Taiyang question why he'd ever fallen for Raven Branwen. Even with his drinking problem, Qrow's attitude was easier to deal with than his sister's.

Taiyang shook his head, forcefully dislodging all thoughts of Raven from his head, and headed for the front door when the rumbling of an approaching vehicle. Since the events at Beacon, the Xiao Long home (not the Xiao Long-Branwen home or the Xiao Long-Rose home, because the first still left a sour taste in his mouth, even after all these years, and the second because it still hurt too much) had become a hub for any planning that happened between Glynda, Qrow, Ironwood, and any number of other people that happened to get dragged along, most often Beacon faculty. Taiyang had gotten used to the sudden, unexpected arrivals at strange times, but this particular arrival had been expected hours ago.

Qrow had gone back to Beacon, planning on circling around the perimeter in an attempt to assess the damage, and had planned to be back in time for dinner. That had been two hours ago, when the sun had still been up. His former teammate's extended absence hadn't worried the blonde initially. After all, Qrow was a capable fighter who'd gone on plenty of missions on his own since Raven had ran off and Summer had died, so he'd proved a hundred times over that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. As the sun had sank below the horizon, temporarily staining the sky red, Taiyang had started to worry. There was an incredibly amount Grimm inside Beacon and Qrow wasn't invincible. His semblance emphasized that, if nothing else, because turning into a crow actually made Qrow more vulnerable to attacks by Grimm instead of less.

His teammate and one-time brother-in-law would have laughed at Taiyang for fretting like some kind of dainty housewife, to quote Qrow exactly, if he'd seen the blonde man anxiously pacing back and forth between the kitchen and the living room, occasionally changing course to look in on Ruby or to try Yang's door again on the off chance that she'd unlocked it. Of course, Qrow hadn't been there so he couldn't mock Taiyang for it. The blonde man opened the door only to find himself face to face with a blonde girl who looked like a mirror image of a fifteen year old Yang, except with red eyes, looking as if she was about to fall over as she swayed on her feet. For a brief moment their eyes met. Then the blonde crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut, dropping towards the ground.

Taiyang caught her almost automatically, eyes scanning the group of people in front of his home in search for someone who could explain what was going on. He skipped right over Qrow and settled on Glynda, knowing that she'd at least given him an understandable explanation. "What's going on?" he asked and Glynda let out a tired sigh.

"It is a long story, Mr. Xiao Long, and perhaps one better told where prying eyes cannot spy on us," she replied and Taiyang nodded, easily picking the unconscious blonde girl up.

He settled the unconscious girl on the couch in the living room, the other three teenagers flocking around her like birds. The dark haired faunus girl settled carefully on the couch, resting the blonde girl's head gently on her lap and humming "You Are My Sunshine" under her breath as she stroked a gentle hand through blonde curls. The two boys exchanged a quick glance before settling on the floor next to the catch, angled so they could keep watch on the doorway as Taiyang retreated towards the kitchen to join Glynda and Qrow. "What's going on?" he asked again, keeping his voice low so that the children in the next room couldn't overhear their conversation.

"According to what the children have told Qrow and I, they traveled from the future by way of the anomaly Ruby created on top of the tower at Beacon," Glynda replied, refreshing the screen on her tablet and frowning at whatever was there. "I'm currently running DNA tests to corroborate their story, but until we receive the results, there's no way to know for sure whether or not they are telling the truth."

"How long will the test take to run?" Tiyang questioned.

"It depends," was Glynda's answer. "Because our communication tower was destroyed, getting any information, even from within our own systems, is taking a long time."

"What I'm more interested in is who they'll claim to be when asked," Qrow drawled from his position leaning up against the stove. Taiyang did the adult thing and bit down a comment about it being a bad idea to have that much alcohol around a possible source of fire, but it was incredibly difficult.

"You haven't asked them who they are?" the blonde man asked, arching his eyebrows at both of them. Qrow just stared back but Glynda at least had the grace to look slightly embarrassed.

"I asked their first names so that I would have something way to separate each of the tests, but otherwise I didn't press," she said. "I was still trying to understand the logistics of time travel during the ride here, as well as making sure that no one was injured."

"Okay," Taiyang said, counting backwards from ten very slowly in his head and turning his attention towards Qrow. "Maybe you had better start at the beginning."

"I was circling around Beacon when I noticed that the Grimm were all moving towards one area of the school, so I went in to take a look," Qrow said, tone completely matter-of-fact. "That's how I found the kids. We managed to get to higher ground, I called Glynda for a ride, and we all came here." Taiyang stared hard at his former teammate, only to have the other man shrug at him. "Oh, did you want all the little details?"

The blonde hunter considered Qrow's tone for a moment before saying, "Give me your flask."

"If this is yet another idiotic attempt to curb my alcohol consumption again, don't bother," Qrow drawled.

"No," Taiyang replied flatly. "I'm going to need a drink to deal with this."

Qrow looked like his world had momentarily been flipped upside down, shaken firmly, and then placed upright again. After a moment of stunned silence, Qrow handed over his flask under Glynda's disapproving stare. It had been a while since Taiyang had last drank, and he found himself coughing after the first sip as alcohol burned down his throat. "Nice job, Tai," Qrow mocked. Taiyang coughed again to clear his throat, ignoring the jab, and screwed the cap on the flask, tucking it away. " _Hey!_ " Qrow protested. "That's mine."

"Not anymore," was the blonde man's smug reply as Glynda's tablet chimed. "Are you test results in?"

Glynda shook her head at the pair's childish antics and activated her tablet, lifting it closer to scroll through her information. "Yes. Shall we go ask them who they are?"

"Yes," Qrow agreed with false cheer. "We shall."

Glynda scowled at the not so subtle mocking but led the way into the living room. Qrow followed, brushing by Taiyang to get to the door and stealing back his flask in the process. Taiyang let that go. He'd tried to stop his friend from drinking more than once, but it had never worked. In fact, on two separate occasions his interference had only made the amount of alcohol consumed higher, and Qrow's tolerance hadn't been as high then as it was now. The first time had result had been Qrow in the hospital receiving a lecture from a very irritated Glynda about the dangers of alcohol poisoning. The second time hadn't been quite as bad, but Taiyang had stopped trying to make his friend quit drinking.

The blonde girl was sitting up when they entered the living room, looking much more alert than she had earlier. The other three were all facing her as they talked among themselves, but the conversation abruptly came to a halt with the arrival of the adults. Glynda settled on a chair, resting her tablet in her lap, and then turned her attention to the teens. "Now that the DNA test results have returned, I believe it is time for proper introductions. Should you be telling the truth about who you and your parents are, then the DNA results should back you up," the huntress said.

The teens exchanged looks that couldn't be described as anything but exasperated. After a moment the dark haired girl nodded. "Okay," she said at last, turning to meet Glynda's eyes. "Shall I start?"

"That is perfectly fine," Glynda replied, tapping the tablet to bring up the correct file. "Sable, was it?"

"That is correct," the dark haired girl replied with a gentle smile. "Sable Daichi."

"And your parents?" Glynda inquired.

"Velvet Scarletina and Yatsuhashi Daichi," Sable replied, folding her gloved hands carefully on her lap. Taiyang glanced at Qrow to see if he recognized either of the names and got a shrug in response.

"According to the DNA results, you are telling the truth." Glynda looked worried by that bit of information instead of reassured, almost as if she would have preferred to discover that Sable was insane instead.

"Great," the dark haired boy drawled, folding his arms over his chest. "Does that mean the rest of us are excused from this little test?"

"I'm afraid not Mr..." Glynda trailed off pointedly, eyes sharp with irritation.

"Black. Malachite Black," he replied smugly. "Malachi for short."

"And who do you claim your parents are, Mr. Black?"

"If I had a choice, I wouldn't claim my father, just like Ember over here wouldn't claim her mother most days, but we don't get to choose our parents," Malachi replied pointedly.

"Your parents, Mr. Black," Glynda prompted impatiently, obviously not in the mood to be lectured by a teenager.

"Mercury Black and Violette Blanc."

This time Taiyang didn't have to look at Qrow to know that both of them recognized one of the names that had been given. Mercury Black had been the boy from Haven Academy who Yang had been fighting. The boy whose leg she had supposedly broken. "Very good, Mr. Black-"

" _Malachi,_ " the boy interrupted and Glynda scowled at him before turning to Taiyang and Qrow.

"His results also agree with his claim."

"That's great and all Glynda, but who exactly are their parents," Qrow drawled. "I recognized Mercury Black's name from the last fight Yang was in, but I wasn't paying too much attention to the others." Glynda sighed and glanced at Taiyang, as if for support, only to look more disappointed in those around her when he nodded in agreement with his friend.

"Ms. Scarletina and Mr. Daichi are second year students at Beacon and part of Team CVFY. Ms. Blanc is a second year student at Sanctum Academy." That said, Glynda turned her attention towards the last two teenagers. "Now, which one of you two is next?"

The last two teenagers exchanged a quick glance before the brunette boy said, "Me, I guess."

"Luc, right?" Glynda questioned and he nodded.

"Luc Rose, son of Jaune Arc and Ruby Rose," he said, shifting almost nervously until the blonde girl reached down to link her hand with his.

Taiyang bit down his automatic shock and disbelief at the thought of Ruby, even twenty years in the future, married, and turned to look at Glynda. She met his eyes and nodded once. "The test confirms it." Taiyang nodded mutely and turned back towards the teens, unable to look Qrow in the eyes at that moment. "And you, young lady?"

"Ember Xiao Long," she said, red eyes intense. "Daughter of Grey Schwartz and..." There was a moment of hesitation before she finished the sentence. "Yang Xiao Long."

"I'm sensing some resentment there," Qrow commented as Glynda nodded to confirm the blonde's identity.

"My mother walked out on us when I was six," Ember snapped, lunging to her feet. "Any resentment I feel is well deserved." She stormed out of the room and a moment later they all heard the front door slam.

Luc stood, obviously intending to go after her, but Sable grab his arm to stop him. "Malachi," she said, order implicit in her tone.

"Alright, alright. I'm going," he sighed, climbing to his feet and following after Ember. A moment later the door shut again, this time softer.

There was a pause, Taiyang struggling to absorb the idea of his daughters having children, and the fact that Yang would walk out on her own child. Just like Raven had. "You do know that they're probably destroying something," Luc said, attention focused on Sable.

"Most likely," the dark haired girl admitted with a sigh. "We should probably go minimize the damage."

"That would be appreciated," Glynda said and Sable nodded once, standing and walking towards the front door with Luc right on her heels.

There was a moment of silence after the front door shut. The Glynda said, "They're telling the truth. Ozpin would have known better about how this whole situation would have been possible than I do, but somehow they managed to travel backwards in time."

Taiyang breathed out a sigh and rested his head in one of his hands. Just like when Raven had left him, leaving him nothing but a note that explained nothing and a four month old daughter to remember her by, he felt as if his world had been throw off its axis. "Tai, if you faint I'm letting you hit the ground," Qrow warned. Taiyang would have smiled if he wouldn't have felt so sick. To learn that one of his daughters had chosen to leave her own child, just like Raven had, made him feel like he had failed, somehow, as a parent. "Taiyang?" Qrow questioned after a moment, sounding as close to concerned as he ever got.

"I'm fine," he replied, looking up again. "I've just had a bit of a shock."

"I think we all have," Glynda replied kindly, resting a hand on his shoulder for a moment. "This isn't the kind of thing that happens every day."

"You've got that right," Qrow commented wryly, taking a drink out of his flask. A crashing sound outside startled them all, but wasn't enough to draw Yang and Ruby out of their rooms.

"Perhaps we should go outside and check on our visitors," Glynda suggested with a sour look on her face.

"Whatever you say," Qrow said with an ironic salute, pushing himself off the door frame and heading towards the front door. Taiyang moved to follow him, but was stopped by Glynda's hand on his arm.

"You haven't done anything wrong when you raised your girls," she told him, voice uncharacteristically gentle. "You may have made mistakes, but you did the best you could and loved them every step of the way, and they know that. And you've raised two wonderful, powerful girls. They've recently gone through a very difficult time, and you're doing the best you can to help them through this, but experiences like the ones they've had to changes people." She hesitated for a moment before continuing, green eyes meeting his blue ones. "They're not the exact same girls that you sent to Beacon. They've begun to grow on their own, and in the end they'll make their own decisions. They might not make decisions we'll ever understand, but the choices are theirs to make. We have to accept that."

Taiyang nodded, acknowledging the truth in Glynda's words, and she stepped around him, heading for the door. For a moment he stood in the empty living room, taking the time to put himself back together. It took a moment to lock all the emotions that had broken free at the mention of a mother abandoning her child, but he ultimately pushed them away. He could deal with his own problems later, when he had time to fall apart and put the pieces of himself back together in private. Calm and collected once more, Taiyang left the living room, heading for the front door. He wasn't sure what was going to happen next, but he'd deal with the hits as they came, and dish out as good as he got. He'd always been good at that.


	4. Chapter 4

Malachi Black understood broken families on a personal level. After all, he'd hidden behind the ratty, bloodstained couch at age five while his mother had tried to murder his father. Her black curls had been a storm cloud around her absolutely livid face as her axe had come down inches away from one of his father's prosthetic feet. He'd whimpered, curled up into a tighter ball on the floor, and pressed his hands tight over his ears in attempt to block out the sound of the fighting. He'd managed to cover his ears just in time to muffle the sound of his father snapping his mother's neck. Malachi had watched, tears running down his cheeks, as his mother had dropped to the ground like a rag doll, his father dripping blood from a wound on his side above her. That had been the last time his family had been full. Ember's home life might not have been quite as bad, but having your mother walk out on you while you were six, leaving her prosthetic arm on the table and never returning, wasn't exactly a walk in the park.

Tree branches and orange leaves were falling from the sky like particularly painful rain as Malachi approached Ember. The blonde huntress had her sword out and dagger removed from within it, using both of them to hack and chopped trees to pieces. He stopped carefully out of range of her swinging blades and waited until she paused, pulling in angry gasps of air, before reaching out to place a hand on her shoulder. Ember spun around, eyes blazing and weapons at the ready as she glared up at him. " _What?_ " She snapped at him. "Come to lecture me on how to behave in polite society?"

"As if I give a damn about how to behave in polite society," Malachi replied with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I came out to check on you."

"Oh really? How sweet," Ember purred out in a sugar sweet tone that spelled danger for pretty much anyone in her path. Then she added in a sharper tone, "I'm fine, okay? Now go away."

"Not going to happen," Malachi replied as she turned and stormed deeper into the woods surrounding the Xiao Long family home. Ember let out a low growled and picked up the pace, trying to lose him in the twists and turns between the trees and dying underbrush. It didn't work. Malachi used the advantage of having longer legs to stay right on her heels, almost running into her when she stopped abruptly.

"Look, I just need some time alone, okay?"

"You and I both know that time alone isn't going to help. It'll just give you more time to think about how betrayed you feel by your mother leaving you."

"Okay. Fine," Ember said sullenly, turning to face him. "What did you have in mind?"

"Put away your weapons and we'll spar, hand to hand," he told her, leaving no room for doubt in his voice. "It'll take your mind off things."

For a moment he thought that Ember would ignore him and continue storming into the woods until they were both completely lost. The look on her face clearly said that she was considering ignoring his suggestion, but after a moment she reassembled her sword and tucked it away with a sigh. "Fine. We'll do this your way."

"Great!" Malachi grinned and backed up a couple steps, lifting up his fists. "Hit me with your best shot." He wasn't disappointed. Ember aimed a punch directly at his head, expecting him to dodge. Since Malachi hated to be predictable, he caught her fist instead of dodging, aiming a punch of his own at her stomach. She twisted aside, attempting to free her captive hand in the process. Malachi tried to oblige her, releasing her hand so he could twist and aim a kick at her side that sent her stumbling backwards. She responded with a flurry of kicks, forcing Malachi to put some effort into dodging. He rolled under a kick and rose up to make a grab at her arm.

Ember twisted away, wobbling a bit and then turning the motion into a flip backwards that put her in a perfect position to kick off a tree. She started to flip over his head, misjudging the height she needed, and Malachi grabbed her leg, using her momentum to spin and throw her. She hit the ground hard, skidding backwards and uprooting hibernating plants until she hit a tree. "This is kind of reminding me of our first meeting," Malachi teased and Ember made her way slowly to her feet.

"As I recall, there was more stone and less dirt," she replied dryly, shifting back into a fighting stance. "And after the first five minutes, I did most of the throwing."

"Only because I let you throw me around," Malachi taunted and Ember lunged at him with a growl. The two quickly traded blows before backing up and circling before striking again. Ember aimed a kick at his side that barely missed and Malachi found himself smirking again when he noticed that her normally pristine black clothing was stained with dirt, and occasionally what little grass had survived the ever increasing number of freezes. A second kick, actually striking him in the ribs, made him thankful for the hundredth time that she'd leaned hand to hand combat from her father, rather than her mother. His father had shown him, once, video of his fight during the Vytal Festival with Yang Xiao Long. It didn't take an expert in hand to hand combat to recognize that Ember's mother had been an incredibly powerful, and incredibly capable fighter. Yang's husband, Grey, hadn't been quite as capable so Ember knew the basics, but not much past that.

Another blow connecting had Malachi stumbling backwards, and the blonde lunged forward to press her perceived advantage. That was a mistake. Even with only basic fighting skills, Ember could hold her own until she got close enough that Malachi's superior strength came fully into play. Not as off balance as she had thought, Malachi took the hit she aimed at him and rammed a knee up into her stomach. Her aura took enough of the hit to keep her from bruising, but did nothing to lessen the effects of having all the air forced out of her lungs. She struggled with the urge to double over and Malachi used that to his advantage, following it up by sweeping her feet out from underneath it.

Ember crashed to the ground and rolled aside from another blow, scrambling to her feet and attempting to return the favor. Malachi jumped to avoid the sweep, recognizing his mistake far too late to. He had a brief second to see Ember's smirk before her kick sent him flying backwards. He flipped and skidded to a stop in a crouch a foot in front of Sable and Luc. "I see the forest is still standing," Luc commented dryly. "You two are slipping."

"Give us time," Malachi replied, grinning as Ember stalked out of the trees. Her blonde hair was a mess of tangles and tree leaves. Dirt stained her black pants and her black jacket. She'd undone the single gold button to reveal the golden tank top beneath, which had somehow avoided getting stained. There were twigs sticking out of the tops of her black boots. "That look's nice on you, Em," he taunted and she rolled her eyes.

"Yeah," she drawled. "I'm sure I look lovely."

"You look happier," Sable said gently and Ember smiled, running a hand through her messy hair. Leaves and twigs dropped to the ground, leaving it marginally less cluttered than it had been before. "You need a shower though."

"I wouldn't if a certain someone wouldn't have been quite so preoccupied with throwing me around," Ember replied dryly, taking a moment to stretch out her muscles.

"Learn how to dodge better," Malachi suggested, tone equally dry. "Or control your fall."

"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it before." Ember frowned and started picking leaves and twigs out of her hair.

"Let me help," Sable said, circling around to remove the twigs that the blonde could reach.

"Do you want me to crouch down so you can reach better?" Ember teased and then winced when Sable punched her in the shoulder. " _Ow!"_ The front door opened again but the teens ignored it for the time being, focused on keeping Ember's good mood alive.

"Don't make fun of people who are challenged in the height department," Malachi mock chided. "It isn't polite."

"I thought you said that you didn't give a damn about what's polite," Ember mocked back, lips still curled up in a smile. Malachi rolled his eyes and smiled back at her until Luc elbowed him hard in the side.

" _Ow_ ," Malachi whined. "That actually hurt." He paused for a moment and then added, "I think its because of your bony elbows."

"Consider it payback for elbowing me earlier," Luc replied. "And for flirting with my cousin where I have to see," the brunette added in an undertone. Malachi snorted at that and someone cleared their throat behind him.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning his head and arching an eyebrow at Qrow, pushing aside the weirdness he felt as seeing someone that had been dead for years. Glynda was standing next to him and Taiyang was watching the entire situation from the doorway, his facial expression purposefully blank.

"If you are done damaging the trees here, perhaps we could discuss your reason for traveling back into the past," Glynda suggested in a tone that implied that what she was saying wasn't really a suggestion. "Inside, away from possible prying ears."

"Are you sure you want me inside?" Ember asked, spreading her arms to reveal her dirt coated frame.

"I see," Glynda said, sounding utterly disapproving. "Ms. Daichi, if you don't mind stepping aside for a moment."

"Sure," Sable said, looking confused but stepping aside. Glynda lifted her riding crop and there was a whooshing sound as twigs, leaves, and dirt lifted off of Ember's clothing and hair. Once it was free of her, it dropped to the ground in several little piles, leaving the blonde mostly clean.

" _Nice_ ," Ember breathed appreciatively, lifting her arms to inspect herself better.

"Now that you're presentable, perhaps we could step back inside," Glynda ordered.

"Yes ma'am," Sable replied respectfully. The dark haired girl shot a meaningful look at her friends, warning them not to rock the boat, before leading the way into the house behind the adults. Luc followed right behind her, trailing after her like a lost puppy as was usual. The brunette boy was, by no sense of the means, a leader. He could make sound tactical decisions, but he wasn't the person to come up with a plan in the first place or the one to inspire others into action. Instead he chose someone to follow and stuck with them to the end. His loyalty was humbling and amusing in turns, especially to Malachi, whose loyalty was much more flexible.

Ember followed not far behind Luc, keeping her eyes fixed on her cousin's back. Malachi knew that their little sparring session out in the woods hadn't magically fixed everything for her, but it had allowed her to lock her resentment and her hurt away in a box in the back of her mind. It would pop up again later, reemerging like a bad penny, but that was to be expected. After all, trauma didn't just disappear overnight. Malachi followed Ember, reaching forward to tuck her hand in his as they entered the living room together.

Sable and Luc had settled side by side on the couch, close enough together that their shoulders were touching. Ember turned to look at Malachi, eyebrows arching towards her hairline as she made her eyes go wide, and the dark haired boy was suddenly struggling to hold down laughter. He and the blonde had been taking bets on when Sable and Luc would finally kiss, but so far it hadn't happened. Glynda cleared her throat pointedly as Malachi grinned at Ember and the two casually stepped apart, Ember sitting on the ground in front of Sable while Malachi walked over to lean against the wall near them.

"I believe that we all have a question for you four," Glynda said, settling on the edge of a chair and primly folding her hands in her lap. "Why travel backwards twenty years in time? What were you hoping to accomplish?"

"That was two questions," Malachi pointed out dryly, smirking when Sable turned her head to glare disapprovingly at him.

"In our time Remnant is still suffering from the repercussions of what happened at Beacon," Sable said, turning back to face Glynda. "Cinder Fall might have been stopped that night, but her ambitions were shared. Emerald Sustrai and Adam Taurus took over where she left off, making our world into a nightmare. They succeeded." The dark haired girl glanced at her feet, fingers trembling as she clenched them into fists on her lap.

"Remnant is a pale shadow of what it once was," Luc said, picking up where Sable left off. "Cities and towns are overrun by Grimm and the schools were closed years ago. Anyone who fights against the Grimm, the White Fang, and Emerald's anarchist group are trained by parents or other blood relatives for a few years before they put their skills to use and, normally, die after a few months."

"If you went back in time to stop all that from happening, you didn't go far enough," Qrow commented from his position leaning against the door frame.

"As much as I hate to admit it, Qrow is right," Glynda said. "Beacon has already been destroyed and the Grimm have already taken over the area. Events have already been set into motion that will make our world into the one you've grown up in. I have no doubt of that."

"That's where you're wrong." Ember's shoulders were tight with tension, but she remained seating to allow Sable to continue carefully braiding her blonde curls. "We still have time to change the course of history, but to do so we need to talk to Ruby."

Blue eyes met red as Taiyang Xiao Long, dead months before Ember had even been born, studied a girl he'd never met before. "Why?" he asked at last.

"Ruby froze the events in place at the top of the tower at Beacon," Ember said, voice calm and even. "She's the only one who can have any effect on the frozen time area."

"And how is unfreezing Cinder Fall and a massive Dragon going to save Remnant?" Qrow asked, taking a drink out of his flask.

"Anomalies frozen in time can be rewound exactly five minutes," Luc said, taking over the explanation and reaching down to place a gentle hand on Ember's shoulder at the same time to keep her from lunging at Qrow. None of them needed to deal with that particular showdown today. "If Ruby rewinds her anomaly then we have a chance to set everything right." What Luc wasn't saying was that, to set everything right, they needed to kill Cinder. Saving Pyrrha would just be a good side effect.

"I'd say I'd hate to break your bubble, but I really don't care, so I'll be the one to point out that Ruby doesn't even know how she froze the top of the tower, let alone how to undo it or rewind the situation," Qrow drawled and Malachi glanced over at Ember to make sure that she didn't try to move.

Once he was sure she wasn't going to punch one of her family members, he turned a smug grin on Qrow. "That's okay, because we know exactly how she did it. How else do you think we ended up here?"

"Sheer, dumb luck," was Qrow's dry response. "Since that is how you seem to operate." Ember's hands clenched into white knuckled fists before she reigned in her temper. Malachi kept an eye on her until her hands relaxed to settle flat on her legs, recognizing that the inevitable showdown between Ember and Qrow would be better put off until another day. Getting into a fight with Ruby Rose's uncle now would likely result in them being barred from even getting a chance to speak to the aforementioned girl, making their entire mission a failure. If they wanted to make this trip into the future worthwhile, then Ember was going to have to deal with the insulting comments without attacking for just a little longer.

"Okay," Taiyang said. "You can speak to Ruby once she wakes up. Until then, you'll have to wait."

"Thank you," Sable said, releasing Ember's hair so that it sprang back into wild curls again. Taiyang nodded in response and then retreated through a door into a hallway, likely going to check on his daughters. Qrow followed him and Glynda rose from her chair, retreating into the kitchen to make a call on her scroll. "Well, that could've gone better," Sable said as soon as they were alone again.

"It could've gone a lot worse," Malachi retorted dryly, sinking down to sit on the floor and stretching out his legs so that he could nudge Ember with a booted foot.

"If you're using your first encounter with Ember as a comparison, then you're right," Luc said, slumping a little from the perfect posture he'd been holding while the adults were in the room. Malachi grinned a predator's smile, all teeth and very little cheer, in response.

He and Ember's first meeting hadn't exactly been a peaceful one. Malachi had been working with his father at the time on what would be the last mission they ever did together. He'd been guarding the outside of one of the few remaining dust stores while his father had gathered what information he needed about the movements of the remaining members of the White Fang from the shop owner when a blonde girl with striking red eyes had approached him. "Whoa, whoa, little lady," he'd said, stepping between her and the door. "You can't go in there."

"Says who?" she'd challenged, hands on her hips and eyes blazing.

"Me," he challenged back, actually looking forward to the fight for once in his life. Most of his previous scuffles had been struggles with Grimm, members of the White Fang, and training spars with his father that left him bloody and bruised more often than not. He'd thought that fighting with the feisty looking blonde girl would be different. He hadn't exactly been wrong.

The two of them had sparred up and down the street, throwing each other through the few standing shop windows and doors as they went. They'd sparred verbally as well, although the intention between their jabs had quickly changed from sharp edged taunting to more friendly teasing. It had been _fun_ , and Malachi had found himself almost smiling as they'd circled one another. " _Malachi!"_ his father's voice had yelled from inside the shop, making him flinch and distracting him long enough for the blonde to get a good punch in.

He'd felt the bruise already forming on his jaw when he turned to hiss at her, " _Get out of here!"_

"Why should I listen to you?" she'd challenged, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Because if you don't, my dad will kill you," Malachi had hissed back. "Now go, so we can finish our fight later." She'd been gone by the time Malachi's father had emerged, leaving only a growing purple bruise on his jaw as a sign that she'd ever been there. Letting her go hadn't been a decision he'd ever regretted.

"Do you think we can do this?" Sable asked, breaking Malachi out of the memory.

"Do what?" he asked wryly. "Save the world from an all powerful being of evil that's been pulling everyone's strings since the beginning of this mess? Oh sure."

"I don't know whether we can or not," Ember said, being uncharacteristically candid about her doubt. "But we've come too far to turn back now."

"Ember's right," Luc agreed solemnly. "We might not succeed, but we have to try."

"Yeah, yeah," Malachi drawled obligingly, rolling his eyes. "We're all in this together, unfortunately."

"Yes," Sable agreed with a tolerant smile. "We are."


End file.
